3 year old constantly hungry, what can I feed her?

I just put this in Food, but thought some people over here might have some ideas too?

I don't know what else to try. Since starting nursery in the afternoons a few weeks back dd1 just seems constantly hungry.

This morning she's eaten, a banana, a handful of raisins, a handful of grapes, 2 bowls of cereal, a cereal bar and 3 digestive biscuits. She's also finished off her sisters bowl of cereal and her sister breakfast bar

She's not bored and is happily playing, but keeps telling me she's hungry. I've started giving her her water bottle when she says she's hungry, I was thinking she may be thirsty but its made little difference. She's begging me for lunch already with tears and I'm finding I'm making her lunch earlier and earlier every day. At the moment lunch time is around 11am.

She wakes up between 5 and 6 am and has snack time at 9/10 ish.

What can I give her to fill her up in the morning? she doesn't like porridge or weatabix or anything 'sloppy'

When she gets home from nursery its the same, I give her a snack at 4, we have dinner at 5 and she's still telling me she's hungry as I'm putting her to bed.

She's not over eating as she's very slim and putting on very little weight (the health visitor was concerned about her lack of weight last time we saw her, but her dietitian, who we no longer see, was happy so no further action was taken), so I genuinely think she's hungry.

I need some new quick and easy ideas for a filling breakfast (I'm 24 weeks pregnant with a 2 year old and a 3 year old, I really cant do fussy!) Please help!

OP I have a similar issue with ds (3.5) so am interested to hear sime different meal suggestions. Trouble I have is that ds is a very fussy eater & struggles with textures. Wont eat anything sloppy eg porridge, gravy/sauce type dinners, refuses potatoes pasta or grains, eggs, meat (except susages/nuggets). He doesnt eat any veg either so the only nutrition he gets is from fruit. His diet is basically cereal, bread, cereal bars, sausage & fruit & he's constantly asking for food to eat. He's MPI too so cheese/yoghurt is off the menu - I just dont know what to give him that is filling & healthy that he will eat. We dont comment whatsoever on what he eats, put food in the middle & self serve, but find that 5 days out of 7 he eats no tea. We do however usually give him a limited choice for breakfast, snack & lunch so I guess maybe we need to offer some alternatives & just tough out the tantrums when its not what he wants?

Cerial bar, cereal, grapes, raisins, biscuits are all high sugar. Even the banana is high sugar. She needs slow burning stuff and protein. So maybe Eggs with grilled tomatoes followed by porridge served with berries. Water and an apple.

Try a handful of dates and drop of water into food processor . Blits to a paste . In small sauce pan a spoon coconut oil and table spin of raw coco butter , melt on very low heat.In a bowl mix about mug or organic porridge oats , few Sultanas , table spoon ground flax sees few goji berries. Mix oil/coco butter with puréed dates and oats etc into bowl. Press into a shallow cake tin, mark out small squares and refrigerate. You could also add some maca powder and puréed banana It's a bit like a raw flapjack, firm in texture , travels well and great for hungry toddler , exhausted mums and packed lunches

Can't link as on my phone, but look for a recipe online, Google "oaty drops Blueberrygirlinoz" which takes you through to a woman's blog and the most amazing recipe for a sugar-free flapjack. (Currently dealing with gestational diabetes, this recipe has been a life-saver.) Lots of oats, nuts, easily adapted and takes very little time to make but all very filling and healthy.

Most children go through a very hungry phase . It can be an indication that their food isn't nutritious enough. Their body can tell them they need more food when in fact they have already had a large quantity but the nutritional content is low Try home made porridge or eggs for breakfast . Small snack of oatcake with hummus or nut butter Or a home made smoothie made with flute and avocado Hot, home cooked lunch Small afternoon snack of coconut yoghurt or Piece of cheese and apple mid afternoon Lighter supper Avoid all cereal bars and packet cereal apart from porridge .

Today might have been a little heavy on the sugar, depending on what th cereal was, but I personally don't think it was too bad. But the sugar in anything, including fruit, can get used up pretty quickly, leaving little ones hungry faster than you'd expect. Right now I have a similar issue with DS4 who keeps eating tonnes of fruit. Which is good, but really, he needs to eat more at meal times to have it stick to his ribs a bit more, rather than going through 3 pieces of fruit between any two meals. Plus, I need to also do the same as you and make certain there are high protein snacks available.

"This morning she's eaten, a banana, a handful of raisins, a handful of grapes, 2 bowls of cereal, a cereal bar and 3 digestive biscuits. She's also finished off her sisters bowl of cereal and her sister breakfast bar"

I suggest you look at the contents of the breakfast bars/cereal bars. Raisins are also very sugary. What cereal out of interest? Cereal bars are processed sugary foods. Equally biscuits. Aside from the bananas and the grapes, I see little of nutritional value, unless the cereals is weetabix.

Instead of starting the day with a cereal bar, I suggest you look for something protein based that will fill her up properly.

Quint I wouldn't say she's having a lot of sugary processes carbs... Is she? I thought I was doing ok in the nutritional stakes. I thought it was balanced out over the day. Up until around a year ago she was seeing a dietitian because of an allergy she's grown out of. Her sister was seeing the same dietitian until about 4 months ago, I kept strict food diaries and she saw everything I gave them (even the odd sweet and chocolate) she saw the bad days where I had 2 under 2 to look after and was very very ill and gave them toast 3 times a day spaced with fruit and the good days where I gave them proper food and she thought their diet was fine. It hasn't changed since. I really didn't think I was doing that bad a job

Thanks for the recipes Andi I'll take a look later and try some out (I know what you mean about the moon placement!)

Your dd is getting a lot of sugary, processed, carbohydrates. No wonder she is constantly hungry, nothing of what you give her is really filling her up, or giving much nutrition. She needs more protein. Based on all the sugar you are already giving her, I would not give her biscuits, cereal bars and youghurts to try fill her up.

Omelette with cheese, a bit of tomato and herbs is fast and nutritious, if the DC will eat it... Almost as fast as pouring cereal... Buy decent sausages (the ones with actual meat in!), easy to cook ahead in the oven, keep in fridge and microwave when needed (about 30 seconds each!).

Boiled egg is a fantastic snack or breakfast food that can be cooked ahead (although I have yet to convince my 3yo to eat one , he views them with great suspicion). Eggs have an amazingly good nutritional profile, complete protein and lots of natural unprocessed fats.

I've just looked through some of my Pinterest recipes and have found some protein loaded ones. You have to take the time to make them, but once they are made, are as quick and as easy as any quick carby recipe.

I've made nearly all these recipes (not the cloud bread, but now that I've been reminded, will make it today) and all have gone down with varying degrees of success with my kids, depending on which one, time of day, placement of moon in the heavens, etc. Certainly all worth a try. Another one would be to make an eggy milkshake, if you aren't worried about raw eggs. One cup of milk, one egg, one tsp vanilla extract, half to 1 tbsp of sugar and whip it up in the blender.